By Gary Symons
TLL Editor in Chief
LEGO dominated this year’s TOTY award list with seven wins, but Jazwares’ Squishmallow line won Toy of the Year, winning three separate awards.
“Squishmallows takes the crown!” the company tweeted at the news. “This would not be possible without the support of our phenomenal partners, retailers, Jazmanians & our millions of Squishmallows fans.”
The performance by LEGO this year was also heavily dependent on its licensing partnership with Disney, as four of its winning TOTY products featured Disney IP. Those included the Construction Toy of the Year for the LEGO Marvel Spider-Man Daily Bugle set; Playset of the Year for Boba Fett’s Starship from Star Wars; Marvel minifigures for Collectible of the Year; and LEGO Disney Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Tiana’s Storybook Adventures as winner of the Preschool Toy of the Year.
LEGO showed strongly for original IP as well, winning the inaugural Grown-Up Toy of the Year award with its LEGO Botanical Collection Flower Bouquet; Specialty Toy of the Year for its inclusive Everyone Is Awesome set; and STEAM Toy of the Year for its LEGO CREATOR 3-in-1 Ferris Wheel.
But while LEGO won the most awards this year, it was Jazwares that won the coveted Toy of the Year award for its insanely popular Squishmallows plush brand, as well as the People’s Choice award and Plush Toy of the Year. The Toy of the Year winner is selected by a panel of experts that bases its decision on a combination of TOTY votes, holiday sales figures, and ‘media buzz’ (traditional, online and social). The People’s Choice winner is chosen by online consumer votes.
“We are thrilled to unveil this year’s much-anticipated TOTY winners, all of which are outstanding examples of the toy community’s talent in designing innovative, magical, and creative playthings for kids and adults alike,” said Pamela Mastrota, executive director of The Toy Foundation. “We congratulate Squishmallows, each of the category winners, and all the nominees for their wonderful achievements and thank the industry for coming together in support of The Toy Foundation and its critical work of bringing toys, play, and healing to millions of children in need.”
US toymaker Mattel also did very well this year, taking away two awards including Action Figure of the Year for Masters of the Universe: Masterverse, and the Infant/Toddler Toy of the Year for its Fisher-Price 4-in-1 Ultimate Learning Bot. It’s also worth noting that Mattel led the field with 17 nominations this year.
From a licensing point of view the award for License of the Year is always an important award, and this year the honor went to Pokémon, a perennially strong IP in the awards and in global sales. One interesting aside is that Pokémon won that category despite the strong performance by Disney, but the difference is that Pokemon is a single licensing property, while Disney’s wins were from its Marvel, Star Wars and Disney Princess lines.
There were 114 finalists for the Toy Association’s awards this year. As always, the winners were selected based on votes from toy retailers, industry media outlets, consumers and members of the Toy Association.
The full list of winners in the 2022 Toy of the Year Awards are below, in alphabetical order.
Action Figure of the Year: Masters of the Universe: Masterverse (Mattel)
Collectible of the Year: LEGO Minifigures MARVEL Studios (The LEGO Group)
Construction Toy of the Year: LEGO Marvel Spider-Man Daily Bugle (The LEGO Group)
Creative Toy of the Year: Magic Mixies Magic Cauldron (Moose Toys)
Doll of the Year: Ada Twist, Scientist Lab Doll (Just Play)
Game of the Year: A Game of Cat and Mouth (Exploding Kittens)
Infant/Toddler Toy of the Year: Fisher-Price 4-in-1 Ultimate Learning Bot (Mattel)
Grown-Up Toy of the Year: LEGO Botanical Collection Flower Bouquet (The LEGO Group)
License of the Year: Pokémon (The Pokémon Company International)
Outdoor Toy of the Year: ZURU Crazy Bunch O Balloons (ZURU)
Playset of the Year: LEGO Star Wars Boba Fett’s Starship (The LEGO Group)
Plush Toy of the Year: Squishmallows (Jazwares)
Preschool Toy of the Year: LEGO Disney Ariel, Belle, Cinderella and Tiana’s Storybook Adventures (The LEGO Group)
Specialty Toy of the Year: LEGO Everyone is Awesome (The LEGO Group)
STEAM Toy of the Year: LEGO CREATOR 3-in-1 Ferris Wheel (The LEGO Group)
Vehicle of the Year: PLAYMOBIL Volkswagen T1 Camping Bus (PLAYMOBIL)
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